The average gas price has risen ahead of the Labour Day long weekend amid reports of shortages due to extensive flooding in Texas and other states along the U.S. Gulf coast.

Gasbuddy.com sources say prices in Quebec and British Columbia jumped by several cents per litre since Thursday.

Gas prices Friday morning showed an average of $1.35 per litre in Vancouver, and $1.33 in the Fraser Valley.

The Canadian average is now $1.16 per litre. Gasoline prices vary substantially by region and city, with Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and most of the Atlantic provinces below the national average.

Most Canadian markets have seen gasoline prices rise several cents per litre over the past week, which has seen refinery and pipeline shutdowns in the U.S. Gulf Coast region due to storm-related flooding.

At least two major pipelines — one that ships gasoline across the southern United States to New York, and another that flows north to Chicago — have been slowed or stopped since hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf region.

HS Markit said in a report Friday about 3.6 million barrels per day of Gulf Coast refining capacity or 20 per cent of the U.S. total is off-line, with a further 1.8 million bpd or 10 per cent operating at reduced rates.

It said outbound pipelines, including the 2.6 million bpd Colonial system to New York, are unable to source product from Houston, leading to surging fuel prices throughout the United States.

“Inventories are declining, wholesale prices are rising, and that will have an impact in Eastern Canada more than in Western Canada, just because of its proximity to that major market in the States,” said Kent Group senior vice-president Michael Ervin.

Some analysts have speculated that it could take months for the fuel market to return to normal, based on records from previous hurricane outages, but Ervin said it’s more likely to be a few weeks as it appears there’s been less damage to refineries and pipelines.

U.S. benchmark oil prices that fell below US$46 per barrel on Wednesday due to less demand from refineries have recovered to more than US$47 per barrel.

TD Securities analyst Bart Melek said in a note Friday he expects crude oil prices to strengthen to above US$50 per barrel before the end of September as Houston refineries, ocean import facilities and pipelines gradually return to normal operations.